America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan

Carlos Bulosan’s semi-autobiographical novel America is in the Heart narrates the evolution of the character of Carlos (nicknamed as Allos) in his journey to find ‘America.’  Bulosan’s search for the ever-elusive “American Dream,” is a common story for many Filipinos. Despite mostly being set in the United States, the novel reflects the Philippines’ history of [...]

The Boxcutters: A Wasteland for the Wild, the Wicked, and the Weird

“The Boxcutters” (www.theboxcutters.wordpress.com) is a blog dedicated to those brave enough to live life according to their own rules. Here’s what ‘The Boxcutters’ is all about: Graffiti artist Banksy once said, “Think from outside the box, collapse it, and take a fucking knife to it.”  We at Boxcutters are fueled by a desire to break [...]

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things begins with a quotation from the writer John Berger: “Never again will a single story be told as though it’s the only one.” Thus, even as the novel dives into non-linear, multi-voiced perspectives, it is built around the experiences of the twins, Rahel and her brother Estha, the “small things” [...]

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Losing a loved one is a traumatic experience–especially if the cause of his or her death is, by its very nature, incomprehensible. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell finds solace in the unexpected death of his father–a victim of 9/11–by throwing himself, obssessively, into solving the mystery of  a key found, hidden, inside a vase owned by his [...]

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.” At the age of 14, Calliope Stephanides learns that she has “5-Alpha-Reductase Pseudohermaphrodites,” a genetic disorder that leaves [...]

Soledad’s Sister by Jose Dalisay

Soledad Cabahug was returning to Manila from Jedah. Like thousands of Filipinos, she had worked overseas, first in Hong Kong then later in Saudi Arabia. Like many others, she was desperate to leave, eager to provide for her family back home (especially for her three-year old son, born out of an affair with a member [...]

Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes

In his first poem, Fulbright Scholars, Ted Hughes predicts the wonderful disaster that would be his romance with Sylvia Plath: It was the first peach             I ever tasted             I could hardly believe             how delicious             At twenty-five I was dumbfounded             By my ignorance of the             Simplest things Published in 1998, [...]

A Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis

Told through the eyes of a food-loving kid, Merlinda Bobis’ A Banana Heart Summer uses traditional Filipino fare to whet the appetite and comfort the soul. Set in the 1960s, the free-spirited Nenita, whose eyes widen at the sight of Nana Dora’s deep-fried caramelized bananas, seems like any other 12 year old. Yet, her kitchen [...]

Some Shel Silverstein…

*A little bit of Shell Silverstein is always a great way to start the day. Woke up at 5 am …and for no good reason! Despite the lack of sleep, I do enjoy the churning silence of dawn.  As Allen Ginsberg once wrote in “An Eastern Ballad,” “I wake to see the world go wild.” [...]

Friday Finds to Get You Through This Complex Sphere of Life, 05/07/2010

Another long weekend? Yessirreeee, Ronald McBebot! The Philippine election season is coming to a head. Filipinos will decide on the future leader of the country on May 10, 2010. Well, IF their votes actually get counted, that is. (And yes, people would say I’m cynical…but I say, I’m realistic.) As each day passes, the candidates [...]